Recruiter Spotlight: Epic Search Partners

For many attorneys, changing jobs is not something they do often. A successful legal career may involve years, sometimes decades, with the same firm before a move is even considered. When that time does come, however, the stakes are high. The right move can accelerate a career. The wrong one can create years of frustration.

That perspective shapes how Peter Rouillard approaches recruiting.

Peter Rouillard, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Epic Search Partners, believes the best recruiters are not merely filling openings. They are helping professionals make informed career decisions. Epic Search Partners serves employers throughout the Northeast, and Rouillard brings the same thoughtful approach to advising legal professionals. He helps attorneys understand their market value, evaluate opportunities, and manage the risks that come with making a career move.

Managing the Risk of a Career Move

Rouillard’s perspective starts with a simple reality: attorneys are not professional job seekers. Many spend years building their careers inside one firm and may only evaluate a major move a few times over the course of their careers. That makes the decision more consequential, and it also makes the role of a recruiter more important.

“You don’t change jobs for a living,” Rouillard says. “The number one thing we need to do is manage your risk.”

For Epic Search Partners, that risk is not limited to whether an attorney receives an offer. It is whether the move will still feel like the right decision months or years later. Rouillard looks closely at what each opportunity requires, whether the attorney will have the tools and support to succeed, and whether the employer’s expectations match what the attorney is actually positioned to deliver.

A successful placement, in his view, has to work for both sides. The attorney needs a role that supports their strengths and long-term goals. The employer needs someone who can succeed in the specific environment, culture, and business need they are hiring for. When those pieces do not line up, Epic is willing to advise against the move, even when a placement might otherwise be possible.

Why Good Candidates Are So Difficult to Reach

One misconception Rouillard sees among employers is the belief that the best legal professionals are actively looking for jobs. In reality, most are not. The attorneys that firms most want to reach are usually focused on serving clients, developing their practice, and advancing within their current firms.

“The person you want is not going to respond to your advertising,” Rouillard explains. “They’re busy. They’re not looking at job boards.”

Getting their attention requires something more than a job posting or a recruiter simply pitching opportunities. It requires a relationship-driven approach that gives attorneys a reason to engage, even when they are not actively looking to make a move.

According to Rouillard, strong attorneys want to work with someone who understands their career goals and can help them evaluate opportunities objectively. They are looking for guidance, not a sales pitch.

“Attorneys don’t want to be sold opportunities,” he says. “They want someone to understand what they’re great at and bring them opportunities that fit that goal.”

Looking Beyond the Placement

Fit is central to the way Rouillard describes Epic Search Partners’ work. A successful placement requires more than an accepted offer. The attorney and employer both need a realistic understanding of what the role requires, what support will be available, and what success should look like after the hire is made.

Rouillard says Epic looks beyond the title, compensation, and initial appeal of a role to evaluate whether the opportunity is truly set up for success. An attorney may be interested, and an employer may be ready to hire, but the placement still has to work in practice.

“What are they asking you to do? Are you going to have the tools, the budget, the people to be successful?” Rouillard asks.

Those questions help reveal whether the role is realistic for the attorney and whether the employer has created the conditions needed for the hire to succeed. When those pieces do not line up, Epic is willing to advise against moving forward, even when a placement might otherwise be possible.

“We will pull attorneys out of a process if we do not believe the fit is right,” he says. “They’re like, ‘Wait a minute, we like that person.’ I say, ‘Nope, they’re not going to be a fit.” The philosophy is simple. A placement that fails helps no one.

Lateral Movement in a Smaller Legal Market

One of the biggest trends Rouillard sees is the continued increase in lateral attorney movement, particularly among attorneys with roughly three to five years of experience. “The last two years have seen the largest number of lateral moves since they’ve been tracking it,” he says.

Rouillard’s local observations align with broader national hiring trends. According to the National Association for Law Placement, U.S. law firm lateral hiring volume increased in 2025, with lateral associates accounting for more than half of all lateral hires. The strongest growth was reported among firms with 250 or fewer lawyers, a useful backdrop for understanding why smaller and midsize legal markets are paying close attention to experienced attorney talent.

For firms in markets like Portland and southern Maine, that movement creates both opportunity and competition. Mid-level attorneys are often attractive because they have developed strong legal skills, but many are also beginning to question whether their current firm offers a realistic path forward. In a smaller market, where the talent pool is more limited, firms may need to look beyond active job seekers and engage attorneys who are open to the right opportunity but not actively searching.

Rouillard believes changing law firm economics are helping drive that movement. Firms continue to look for ways to increase profitability, while many associates are reassessing their long-term opportunities and growth potential. When attorneys feel they are no longer on a partnership track or are not being supported in the areas where they excel, they often begin exploring alternatives.

Portland

Legal Recruiter Spotlight: Epic Search Partners

Epic Search Partners is a Maine-based legal recruiting firm serving Portland and surrounding markets, focused on placing accomplished attorneys with respected law firms and in-house legal departments. The firm provides strategic, relationship-driven recruiting tailored to the unique dynamics of Maine’s legal community.

973-635-3745 View Website

Recruiter Info

Recruiting as Career Coaching

Rouillard sees recruiting as an ongoing advisory relationship with attorneys at different stages of their careers. Some conversations begin when an attorney is considering a move. Others begin much earlier, when someone is trying to understand whether their current role still supports their goals.

“We can be your real coach and advocate,” he says.

That guidance often starts with helping attorneys understand what they do best, whether their current firm rewards those strengths, and what kind of platform would allow them to keep growing. Epic Search Partners frequently works with attorneys who are not actively looking for a new role. In some cases, Rouillard says, the right advice is to stay exactly where they are.

“If you’re happy where you are, we want you to stay happy,” Rouillard says.

For Rouillard, the most productive conversations often begin with a simple question: “We want to know what’s keeping you up at night in terms of your career.

Why Maine Continues to Attract Legal Talent

Although Epic Search Partners works with clients across New England, Rouillard has a personal connection to southern Maine and a clear view of Portland’s place in the broader regional legal market. He grew up in southern Maine, spent years in Boston, and returned to the area about 15 years ago. Today, he sees Portland as part of a connected New England market, close enough to Boston, Portsmouth, Manchester, and Concord to compete for talent, but distinct in the quality of life it offers legal professionals.

Portland in particular continues to attract attorneys seeking a different pace of life than larger metropolitan markets. The city offers access to outdoor recreation, a nationally recognized food scene, and proximity to major business centers throughout New England.

“People come up here for a better quality of life,” Rouillard says.

For attorneys accustomed to long hours, that quality of life can be a meaningful recruiting advantage. Portland offers access to Boston, a strong food and craft beer scene, and the kind of outdoor lifestyle that draws professionals to Maine in the first place. “They want to ski, they want to be on the water, they want a snowmobile, they want to do things outside,” Rouillard says.

That appeal is important because Maine firms are recruiting from a smaller talent pool. Rouillard says firms often need to attract attorneys who have a connection to the state, including those who went to school in Maine and want to return. “It’s a smaller pond,” he explains. “You’ve got to attract people.”

The challenge is that Portland-area firms are not only competing with each other. They are also competing with firms in Boston, New Hampshire, and other nearby markets. As Rouillard puts it, “All those firms are fishing in the same pond.”

Relationships Beyond the Placement

Rouillard’s long-term view of recruiting ties together Epic Search Partners’ approach. Attorneys are making decisions that can shape years of their careers, and employers in markets like Portland and southern Maine are often competing for a limited pool of talent. In that environment, trust matters. A recruiter has to understand both sides well enough to know when a move makes sense and when it does not.

Over more than two decades in recruiting, Rouillard has built relationships with legal professionals and employers through multiple stages of their careers. Some have become longtime clients. Others have become close personal friends.

“We bleed for our clients and we bleed for our attorneys,” Rouillard says. “If you don’t do that, you are not going to be around for 20 years.”

That level of investment is what Rouillard believes allows recruiting relationships to last. For Epic Search Partners, the goal is to help attorneys and employers make decisions that still feel right long after the search is over.